Interrupted Date, by Vanessa S. Quest

Yuri's ankle hissed at him as he used a cane to move across the castle.

After almost an entire month his ankle was just now letting him move around with any real distance, he was only glad his arm was healed now.

Today, a day of great anticipation, was the day that Yuri would get to go out on the town, Wolfram and Conrad escorting him.

It had bit him in the ass, what he had said to Wolfram on their last excursion. "Going out on the town is more fun with more people." He had said that to get out of being alone with Wolfram, not to miss out on alone-time with Conrad.

He shook his head, that didn't matter right now, only splitting his attention with Wolfram was way better than having Gunter and Gwendel there as well, so he was happy to just shut up and deal with it.

As it were, though, he had found Conrad brushing out the horses already linked to the carriage.

"Ah, Yuri-heika. I see you're early." He smiled at Yuri, oh he could hardly stand the scent. Conrad was in full form today, that leathery musk was so rich and just so… Conrad.

Yuri smiled back, barely able to contain his joy, as he hobbled over he swaggered a bit, leading to what would have been a face-plant had Conrad not dove over to steady him. He grabbed Yuri's shoulders to push back giving just enough counter-balance for Yuri to get a second to readjust his cane, he laughed nervously.

"Aha…ha, ha… Sorry." Yuri bowed his head, he was so embarrassed, though he could hardly blame himself for falling head-over-heels for Conrad.

Conrad assisted him into the carriage, where to his surprise, there was an array of sweets and chocolate-dipped fruits, and sweet liqueurs set out before him.

Yuri blushed then looked at Conrad, who seemed to be fighting off just the faintest of blushes himself. He scratched the back of his head, "Well, that was supposed to be a surprise for a little later. Take a seat, Yuri, you shouldn't strain yourself."

The black-haired maoh was all too happy to oblige, his ankle was throbbing a bit, though he'd be the last to openly confess that and risk on impinging upon this rare opportunity. He really was surprised, and he knew this was Conrad's doing.

Conrad always did these sorts of things, always paid attention to the smallest of details, made sure everything was as near perfection as would be needed. It struck Yuri at times just how well prepared Conrad was. He figured that was the benefit of being an adult, to have foresight, but he usually stopped the line there, lest it implied something else he really didn't think he could take.

Just as Yuri was giving Conrad the fullest bloom of his deep, dark starry eyes, Wolfram stormed over to cut in, Yuri turned away and hoped his blush wasn't too obvious to the blond powder-keg.

"Damn it, Sir Weller! You were going to leave without me, weren't you! You told him to meet you here earlier then when you told me you were leaving!"

Yuri turned to look at Wolfram, baffled. Well, the thought had occurred to him that it would be nice to just leave without him, but he also knew how rude and hurtful that would be, and even if he wanted to selfishly spend as much alone-time with Conrad as he did, he also knew that wasn't the way to accomplish it. After all, neither he nor Conrad were cruel.

"Wolfram, you know he wouldn't have left without you!" Yuri said, trying to keep the peace. Wolfram had become even more volatile after Yuri had kicked him out of his bedroom the first few nights after they had gotten back to Covenant Castle, that was after Wolfram had kicked his ankle and punched his shoulder, for the record. Yuri wondered if just enduring that pain would have been less of a pain in his neck for dealing with the blond's increased hostility.

"Not if he ever planned on living here again." Wolfram seemed to give Conrad a threat or ultimatum or something, because Yuri noticed Conrad seemed to stiffen as if he were locking swords with someone.

"Knock it off, we're going to the town to have fun, so if you two are just going to fight you shouldn't bother going at all!" Yuri gave his own ultimatum. He wasn't going to tell Wolfram not to go, but he was by no means going to deal with his haughty attitude after Conrad had put so much care and consideration into things.

Conrad smiled at Yuri as if thanking him for the sentiment but simultaneously that it was unnecessary if not detrimental.

Yuri looked down, feeling ashamed of himself. "So get in, if we're all here why wait that extra half an hour, right?"

"Of course, Yuri." Conrad mentioned, he signaled for the driver of the carriage to approach, as well as a guard. Just because Conrad was taking Yuri to town didn't mean he'd do it without precautions, after all, that wasn't his style. He planned for the smallest of details when he could.

Wolfram made it a point to sit beside Yuri, though Conrad seemed to be prepared to sit across from him as he began to strike up conversation about the view, seeming to piss the blond off, more.

Yuri laughed in a strained tone, this was very awkward, Conrad was actually being a bit more forward than usual with an audience. He wasn't sure if Conrad was even aware of it, it even struck Yuri as coming on to him, and saying how he seemed oblivious to it, according to Wolfram, that must mean this was really pushing the envelope.

"Aha ha… you two are acting… well, you aren't acting like yourselves."

"That's because this is a date." Wolfram mentioned in a dead-pan voice.

Yuri's eyes went wide, he knew Wolfram didn't think he was taking Yuri on a date, which means that he was tagging along on Conrad and his date, he blinked, as much as he thought it was like a date he never really thought it was a date.

"D…D…Date? How can it be a date if there are three of us!"

"Exactly." Wolfram smirked victoriously.

Yuri blinked and Conrad merely touched his eyebrow, Wolfram was being a bit lippy. "Well, if it is a date, I suppose there's no harm in my taking you to a romantic dinner, even if there is a tag-along." Conrad said, that same battle-aura was flaring up.

"What are you two doing? It's like you're having a competition for my attention…" Yuri looked at them both incredulously.

Wolfram turned his nose up, "Like I would have to, you're my fiancé!"

Yuri sighed then looked back at Conrad as if asking him to do something to deal with him.

"All the same, there is an establishment I had in mind. It's a small restaurant but they serve to very eclectic tastes."

Yuri cocked his head to the side, not sure what Conrad meant.

Upon entering the warm, stone building he understood what Conrad meant. He smelled the crisp scent of green tea, well, it smelled like green tea.

They even had something like shrimp tempura shish kabob.

Yuri, while not someone hard to impress, was definitely giving Conrad extra points, that was, until some men came in, flipping tables over. Yuri stood up at the sudden outburst until Conrad pushed him back down onto his seat.

"Yuri stay here…"

Wolfram seemed to think it was his opportunity to shine as he approached the rowdy group to find out just what they were doing. That met him with a drink splashed in his face.

And thus, the short fuse was lit.

Yuri rubbed his head, "Conrad you should stop him before he burns such a nice place down." He mentioned, Conrad eyed Wolfram, then Yuri, the crowd, then Wolfram again.

"Alright, please wait right here." Conrad emphasized as he put his hand to his hip.

After a few moments of 'conversing' with the group, they seemed content with taking it outside to Conrad's relief, he approached Yuri shocked to find the youth not where he deposited him.

"Hey what gives!" Yuri mentioned as some strange man squeezed on his arm.

"You're with that guy right? With Sir Weller, he sure was pouring on the charm." The man mentioned.

Yuri blinked, "How do you know Conrad's…"

"Conrart? Oh, he's an old acquaintance, if you want I can clarify, after all, you seem very young. You're human aren't you? So you're what, 16?"

Yuri blinked, he was close.

"He's in his hundreds. I bet you think you're special to him too. Well, you're not the first to think that at all."

Yuri's eyes went wide, this is one of those conversations he didn't want to have. The man began to pull him toward the back door. "Quit it!" Yuri mentioned, his own ankle throbbing.

"Sorry, but I can't really. If you're as precious as you think to him, we could use your help to settle some old scores."

Yuri suddenly felt very uncomfortable, they weren't going to try to use him against Conrad… were they? Or was this like with Hube…

"Behave or I have to get violent." The man mentioned, the knife almost instantaneously at the edge of Yuri's neck.

He pulled Yuri from the back door, his cane still beside the chair much to Yuri's own dismay as he was forced to walk on his bum ankle.

"Have you ever asked yourself how he's as good as he is, or did you already realize he'd been with other people?"

"I know he was with someone… with Julia…" Yuri mentioned, thinking back to the small details and those kind gestures.

"Suzanna Julia? That was the one woman he was ever with, but as far as men, ha. May I assure you he has experience! Do you know Yozak Gurrier, his subordinate? He was probably his fourth or fifth conquest, out of many more."

Yuri's eyes shrank back, "I don't want to hear this… I don't see what any of this has to do with me!"

"Well, you see, the people who want to have a bit of a talk with your dashing knight-type over there happen to be some of his scorned ex-lovers that never got the courtesy of a break-up, or were wronged else-wise. Do you get it now?"

"…You mean they want to fight with him to hash out some peaceful resolve? That's absolutely ridiculous!"

"Love is a stupid beast, what can I say? I'm here to help out some of my comrades, so please forgive me. After all, isn't it only fair that if they are putting their all and their attentions into it that he do the same? If you're as important as you think he'll do it, but if you aren't… well, isn't it better to know that in the beginning, too?"

Conrad saw the cane and started to become very angry. He took up a fast pace to retrieve the object, scanning to see any foreign motion, he saw the back door open, he saw a trace of blue fabric that bore a striking similarity in shade to the shirt Yuri had been wearing before he reached the same door.

Within moments he had assessed the situation, he knew some of the faces, rejected bar-flies, apparently he had his own little fan-club. Yozak always warned him about this sort of thing. His wing-man usually also doubled as a back-up scapegoat if anyone was a bit too persistent. However, one or two of the group of nine actually held nostalgic faces.

His third lover from more than 60 years ago, a tryst that lasted for a year, and the other his fourth lover who had lasted for six months, his 'teen years' were adventurous, he had a track record of eleven lovers before he realized that love was something serious, he learned that long before meeting Julia, but that was definitely the anchor to that achievement. In all fairness, his mother didn't particularly help him with that understanding, after all, even though she loved all the men she was with, the sheer number did make it hard to know as a youth that each one had to hold a specialness to be significant.

"Yuri!" His legs were moving forward before he knew it. His sword drawn, "I don't know what you're up to, but release him now and I'll be lenient."

"And if we don't want you to be lenient? Then what, should we threaten to hurt him so you fight us? Fight us so we can hurt you the way you hurt us, by your own hands!"

Conrad was annoyed, why did his ex have to be such a lousy poet?

"Conrad!" Yuri called out. He winced as his ankle insisted that he was a jerk for standing on it for so long.

"I don't plan on giving you the chance to hurt him, I figured I'd just be nice and offer." Conrad turned his step and took up an aggressive stance.

Wolfram raced around the corner, "Conrad they disbanded--" The blond stopped, put his hand to his head and groaned. "Apparently to regroup, so these clowns are part of the fan-club Yozak was mentioning a while back, huh?"

Yuri looked at him confused, was that why Wolfram was acting so strangely? Yuri hated it, all of this, he understood Conrad was older than him, he knew it was insane to think he'd be the first or was really special, after all, Julia was special, he was just… a continuation, wasn't he? But he had held on to that as being special, too. But if he was with Yozak, that means he wasn't even just the select friend he chose but he was some archetype- he had a thing for half-bloods who he befriended.

Yuri's eyes watered at that, his throbbing ankle be damned, his heart was aching worse! Wolfram must be laughing at him on the inside, thinking about how the wimpy-cheater than was himself had deserved such a lousy turn of the wheel.

After the first six or so clashes of the blade, the knife at his throat was retracted as was the crushing grip on his arm, Yuri slid to the ground, his leg happy to find support on the earth with more steady a portion of itself.

Why couldn't he be happy about just being in love? Why did people find it so necessary to walk up to balloons with pins in hand? Really, how was it so horrible to try to find happiness in love so much so that people just had to try to ruin it!

Wolfram was the first to notice the change in color of the air around Yuri as the blue shade signaled the Maoh's ascent. That very same maoh made it quite obvious that he was pissed off at being used as some tool for people to use against his Sir Weller.

As the maoh stood up, Yuri seemed indifferent to the shakiness of the limb as he walked toward the group. The others halted, suddenly seeing the maoh and the realization that they were dealing with powerful Mazoku, a good portion of them decided Conrad really wasn't as worth it as they had originally thought.

Three people didn't seem to give that much of a damn, namely the two scorned lovers and the one who felt it imperative to take a hostage.

With the swish of his hands, the maoh made an x across his chest then added a v-shaped swipe with his left arm before sending the three flying with a breeze.

"It is despicable to sour the feelings of love to turn it into such an ugly thing. But to not only sour your own feelings, to try to infect others with your same distaste is disgusting. I will not take your lives, as it seems your hearts have already been taken…"

Conrad couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at the dirty look the maoh shot at him, that one guy said something to him, didn't he?

"Even though your hearts were stolen, to try to spill blood is unforgivable. Justice will be done!" Three water dragons tangled through the air, knocking the men across the narrowed alley-way and out the other side.

"…Yuri…" Conrad mentioned, sheathing his sword.

The strong gaze on him seemed to soften as the maoh allowed himself to transform back. Yuri lurched forward into Conrad's arms.

Blinking into awakeness, Yuri found Conrad's concerned brown eyes locked on him, and Wolfram's green eyes averted, as if saying he'd over-look this for now.

Really, that blond was stubborn to read, most of the times he'd be jealous is a branch brushed him, saying he was a cheater for a pine cone, but with Conrad throwing himself at him after all this… and now he would turn a blind eye for the sake of convenience? He didn't possibly think that 'well if anyone at least its Conrad' or something, did he? Yuri's black orbs returned to Conrad's.

After all, Conrad was the one with something to say, wasn't he?

"What did they tell you, Yuri?" Conrad mentioned once. "You're upset, I know they said something, so please tell me."

Yuri looked down, damn. He had just wanted Conrad to say some comforting line or explain it all away, he didn't want to have to bring up such a sore topic, especially near the powder-keg fiancé he was stuck with.

"They told me about your past romantic digressions. Though, it's not my business, right?" Yuri's hurt appearance was as clear as the time of day.

"Yuri…" He sighed, well, this would be a conversation killer. "What specifically did they say?" Conrad adjusted.

Yuri looked at him daftly, "What you want me to give you a play-by-play about how you fucked Yozak and the rest of those guys, or how they informed me of just how 'special' I am? Thanks, but, no, I don't really feel like playing telephone." Yuri leaned back, again his heart trumping his ankle for pain.

"…Yozak?" Conrad blinked at that, thinking of that in a very uncomfortable light, that sort of thought was like the mental image of doing your brother or something equally as likely. "…Ah, you see Yuri, they were mistaken about that. I should explain who they were."

Conrad was still trying to get the unsatisfying taste from his mouth from the mental image. No, no, no, Yozak was far too good of a friend to be a good lover. Their relationship was all wrong for that, regardless of how much trust they housed for each other, Yozak was starry-eyed when he thought about Conrad and Conrad had to keep in mind his authority over him, as well as the overall inconvenience of having… he really wanted to stop thinking about that all.

"In the past, I had dated two of them, the rest were scorned by rejection, not a broken heart. Yozak has the nasty habit of playing the scapegoat for me when we go out to drink, sometimes he forgets he's not in drag and that leads to dilemmas like… well like that. I have never made, nor do I ever plan to make, the moves on him in any bout of sincerity, and I'm sure he'd be happy it stays that way."

Yuri's ankle panged, Conrad handed him the cane.

"Yuri, unlike you, I'm already an adult, and that means I've went through stages you have not yet. It doesn't mean I care any less for you, but, yes. I've already done things that to you are still far off."

Black eyes looked down, "I don't need you to say this, Conrad…"

"Yes, you do. You're crying. I know what they've said hurt you, even though some of it was true and some of it was wrong. You are special, Yuri." Conrad put a reassuring hand on Yuri's shoulder before crushing him in an embrace. "Because I love you very much, when I was young I didn't understand the importance of that so I made impulsive choices, but I realized long ago that it has to be special."

"…You mean because of Julia…" Yuri's eyes watered, so he had a complex! Of course he would… everyone did him the favor to reinforce it, everyone seemed to view him as her substitute once they found out who he was through extension of her soul.

"No. I realized it long before that. She was special, too. Yuri, I love you. I love you and only you, Yuri. I want to watch you grow and to grow old with you. I also know that because of our age difference I have to be patient, you wouldn't be ready if I treated you outside of those bounds."

"Where you treated Julia, though, right!" Yuri said, he was getting annoyed at how Conrad was skirting the issue.

"Yuri, Julia was engaged to Adelbert."

"…So? I don't understand, everyone says she was your most important person, and you said she entrusted her soul to you… and I understand why she would, I mean, I love you don't I so of course I know how much she had faith in you… but…"

"But you still don't realize that even though she was important to me that I would do anything to keep her close to me, and how I would never risk her status or quality of life to just satiate my physical needs." Conrad did that cute little thing of when couples finished each other's sentences, though Yuri mused that was no where NEAR how he'd have ended it.

"…So you never…"

"Not once."

"…Even though you'd have wanted to…"

"What can I say, I have patience and strong will power." Conrad tongued the inside of his cheek, this was just a buzz-kill to sour his date, was this Shinou's punishment for him for trying to tempt his younger brother's fiancé?

"So I am special… and you will let me tempt you, you're not going to back down because of status or anything, this time… right?"

Conrad sighed, "I'm not that patient." He looked upward, awk-ward.

Yuri's smile burnished his set features, "So you actually do still love me… and I'm not some flavor-of-the-week like he was suggesting… but you actually do love me…"

"Yes, Yuri. I love you, if you need me to say it a thousand times, I will, but please understand I truly do care for you." Conrad adjusted his hold, letting his fingers rake through Yuri's hair.

Yuri sighed in relief, "Thank goodness… I thought that…" Yuri's eyes widened, "Wait… why hasn't Wolfram started screaming at us yet?"

He gave Conrad an uneasy look.

"Ah, you see, we've come to an understanding about some things."

"So you did make this into some sort of competition…" Yuri was back to fuming rays of frustration.

"I'm not that patient." Conrad restated, causing Yuri to blush.

"…So, does this mean you cleared the level and get the XP or something?"

"Something like that, I suppose, yes." Conrad gave him an endearing smile before kissing Yuri's forehead. "Now, we should probably take this back inside the carriage or somewhere more discrete."

"Yeah, a small crowd is forming, isn't it?" Yuri noticed, suddenly all too aware of prying eyes from shop-keepers and customers alike. "Conrad, I'm sorry I doubted you…"

"You didn't, though, Yuri. You were just curious about my past, it's a legitimate concern."

"…Not because of that, I mean, frankly I knew I'd feel jealous if I heard that so I almost didn't want to ever hear, and just pretend you just knew because, well because you're just perfect at everything and to leave it at that. No, I'm sorry about how I always bring this back to Julia… but, its hard to have some portion of you that you can never really know that everyone else sees… and knows… and projects and judges…"

"Yuri, I'll never judge you like that. You are you, even if you feel insecure about it."

"…I'm immature…"

"You're young." Conrad corrected him.

"I'm so naïve it isn't even funny, is it?"

"You're cute." Conrad mentioned, ready to let it drop off there, he leaned in to kiss Yuri once more, adding to the surprise when he lifted Yuri to escort him back to the carriage, where Wolfram sat, devouring the sweets, a bit annoyed at Conrad's lovey-dovey attitude with his fiancé.

"You can stop trying to map his mouth any time now, Conrad." Wolfram threw a berry that looked strikingly like a lilac strawberry at his older brother, causing the brunette to laugh softly once, as he pulled back.

Yuri blushed realizing he was going to be screamed at thoroughly tonight for this. He couldn't help but think it was worth it though.

He grumbled, "K'so! My ankle feels horrible now!"

-The End- by Vanessa S. Quest

A/N: Yeah, so… this is, as you may or may not have guessed, a continuation off of In My Heart, In My Veins. If you liked it, please R & R, well, even if you didn't like it I guess you can still R & R, if you're nice. Ja matte min'na!